Ericsson in hot water in India

India’s competition watchdog has bitten the rump of Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson. The Competition Commission (CCI) is to investigate over claims that Ericsson was over charging Micromax for the use of patents.

Ericsson had sued Micromax in March 2013 for patent infringement and the Indian company responded by filing a complaint to the CCI, Ericsson said. The CCI has now decided to refer the case to the director general for an in-depth investigation. Ericsson appears to have been asking Micromax too much in royalties to use its patents.

Micromax said Ericsson abused its dominant position in patents by imposing "exorbitant royalty rates," the document showed. It seems that Ericsoon wanted to charge based on the sale price of a phone rather than the technology. The latter method makes royalties paid for smartphones much higher than standard phones.